“Image & Word” Film Series

Friday, August 9, 2013

Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts will introduce its first informal film study for Divinity School students, “Image and Word,” for the fall semester. The series will include three sessions, each focused on a film that strikes a particular chord within a broad theological theme. At each session the group will watch a classic, foreign, or recent film introduced by a mini-lecture and followed by group discussion. The series seeks to practice the art of discerning the theological contours of a film—in its philosophical, historical, and technical components—and to deepen imaginative and pastoral acumen as viewers.

This semester the group will be looking at three dramas: Casablanca (1942), Last Year at Marienbad (1961), and Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life (2011). The discussions will aim to explore notions of time, and human perceptions of time, as depicted in cinema, asking throughout what difference the Christian hope and reality of the Resurrection makes to these other realities. How do human beings usually perceive time? Do we perceive it correctly? And how can cinema help us think about time in a more Christian manner, in the light of the Resurrection?

The series will be led by DITA's new post-doctoral fellow in Theology and Literature, Dan Train, and Th.M. student Naaman Wood. The first session will take place Sept. 17 at 6:30 p.m[1]. For more information, please see the DITA calendar[2] or contact DITA administrative assistant Amber Noel[3].